Help Angela passover with grace
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Angela has brain cancer... yes brain cancer... and the thought of that is making us all sick and breaking our hearts. Her type of brain cancer is the kind that when you do a Google search you just turn off the computer rather than having to see the stats. The operating Doctor suggested that we count months rather than years for life expectancy. Hard to hear and hard to accept.
For the last 2 years, Angela has undergone so many medical issues caused by a Gliobastoma Stage 4 brain tumor. She has endured an emergency surgery on her brain to remove a 5 cm tumor: that tumor was the size of a golf ball and the surrounding swelling was the area of a softball.
Following surgery, Angela endured six weeks of radiation coupled with chemotherapy. Then taking oral chemo on a monthly schedule. Those two steps are the only "plan" by medicine to treat GBM. After those steps it becomes a game of clinical trials, invasive infusion chemo and declining physical and mental health.
Over the last 23 months she has been subjected to an array of drugs to do everything from prevent swelling to stop seizures to calming the side effects from all the other drugs. Maybe her least favorite (but also the most important!) was the strongest oral steroid possible to prevent brain swelling. With one seizure taking her to the hospital in early 2013 we realize and accept the ramifications of having brain tissue removed.
Angela participated in three separate clinical trials at UCSD Moores Cancer Center in San Diego, Ca in attempt to save her life and to help others with identifying new medicine. A series of five seizures within 30 minutes in May 2014 turned everything in her life from hoping to coping and the decline has been consistent and sever since.
Angela has a great spirit and like every mother, wanted a long life of watching her children grow and having grandchildren to love and help raise. That loss breaks her heart and is the deepest loss she feels and is tragic to feel her pain as she mourns this loss.
Angela lost her job a week before being diagnosed. After the diagnosis and surgery, we went to her Union and pleaded with them to return her to employed status citing her inability to think with a clear mind due to the enormous tumor causing her so many cognitive issues such as not following direction and not being able to add numbers. She was not even able to see mathematical symbols!! The brain is so complex! We were astounded to see the loss of cognition.
Her time is so precious, and no one can know how much she has left. As of October 2014 she is in the final phase of this devastating cancer and our last hope now is to provide her as comfortable a passing as is possible. The immediate goal is to get her stable enough to leave the hospital, then secure medical transportation to Northern California where she can hopefully enjoy her last days near her family. At the very least, they will be afforded the opportunity to be with her as her spirit leave her broken and fatigued body.
There was hope for a long life and complete recovery of her brain. Along our 23 month journey we never lost hope and only in the last few months have we realized, accepted and planned for the inevitable.
She wants her life to mean something for others... she just simply wants to make a difference, to be able to die knowing that she left the world a better place. Even if that accomplishment is only met with her children becoming better adults after connecting with their mother in a way that she cannot currently provide.
You can be a part of Angela's life by giving her a little support which will give her time and peace of mind. Your generous donation will help pay for medical costs and debts, help put healthy food on her plate and provide her the ability to visit with her family and children. All donations will be deposited directly into Angela's personal bank account when withdrawn from GoFundMe . Your support will help her immediately!
Please give what you can and be part of something incredibly beautiful! Please share Angela's story with other people you know. Not everyone can help her financially but the more people who share her story the more likely her life will have meaning to others.
Since the creation of this GoFundMe site in May 2013, so much has occurred to change her life and leave a legacy. There is a foundation created in her honor to help other GBM patients and their families. The foundation name is Valkyries Voyage and can be located on the internet at www.ValkyriesVoyage.com and on www.Facebook.com/ValkyriesVoyage. Please visit those sites for other updates and to either receive assistnace in your own GBM battle or to volunteer time, money or services to help others in their fight to live.
For the last 2 years, Angela has undergone so many medical issues caused by a Gliobastoma Stage 4 brain tumor. She has endured an emergency surgery on her brain to remove a 5 cm tumor: that tumor was the size of a golf ball and the surrounding swelling was the area of a softball.
Following surgery, Angela endured six weeks of radiation coupled with chemotherapy. Then taking oral chemo on a monthly schedule. Those two steps are the only "plan" by medicine to treat GBM. After those steps it becomes a game of clinical trials, invasive infusion chemo and declining physical and mental health.
Over the last 23 months she has been subjected to an array of drugs to do everything from prevent swelling to stop seizures to calming the side effects from all the other drugs. Maybe her least favorite (but also the most important!) was the strongest oral steroid possible to prevent brain swelling. With one seizure taking her to the hospital in early 2013 we realize and accept the ramifications of having brain tissue removed.
Angela participated in three separate clinical trials at UCSD Moores Cancer Center in San Diego, Ca in attempt to save her life and to help others with identifying new medicine. A series of five seizures within 30 minutes in May 2014 turned everything in her life from hoping to coping and the decline has been consistent and sever since.
Angela has a great spirit and like every mother, wanted a long life of watching her children grow and having grandchildren to love and help raise. That loss breaks her heart and is the deepest loss she feels and is tragic to feel her pain as she mourns this loss.
Angela lost her job a week before being diagnosed. After the diagnosis and surgery, we went to her Union and pleaded with them to return her to employed status citing her inability to think with a clear mind due to the enormous tumor causing her so many cognitive issues such as not following direction and not being able to add numbers. She was not even able to see mathematical symbols!! The brain is so complex! We were astounded to see the loss of cognition.
Her time is so precious, and no one can know how much she has left. As of October 2014 she is in the final phase of this devastating cancer and our last hope now is to provide her as comfortable a passing as is possible. The immediate goal is to get her stable enough to leave the hospital, then secure medical transportation to Northern California where she can hopefully enjoy her last days near her family. At the very least, they will be afforded the opportunity to be with her as her spirit leave her broken and fatigued body.
There was hope for a long life and complete recovery of her brain. Along our 23 month journey we never lost hope and only in the last few months have we realized, accepted and planned for the inevitable.
She wants her life to mean something for others... she just simply wants to make a difference, to be able to die knowing that she left the world a better place. Even if that accomplishment is only met with her children becoming better adults after connecting with their mother in a way that she cannot currently provide.
You can be a part of Angela's life by giving her a little support which will give her time and peace of mind. Your generous donation will help pay for medical costs and debts, help put healthy food on her plate and provide her the ability to visit with her family and children. All donations will be deposited directly into Angela's personal bank account when withdrawn from GoFundMe . Your support will help her immediately!
Please give what you can and be part of something incredibly beautiful! Please share Angela's story with other people you know. Not everyone can help her financially but the more people who share her story the more likely her life will have meaning to others.
Since the creation of this GoFundMe site in May 2013, so much has occurred to change her life and leave a legacy. There is a foundation created in her honor to help other GBM patients and their families. The foundation name is Valkyries Voyage and can be located on the internet at www.ValkyriesVoyage.com and on www.Facebook.com/ValkyriesVoyage. Please visit those sites for other updates and to either receive assistnace in your own GBM battle or to volunteer time, money or services to help others in their fight to live.
Organizer
Mike Mardis
Organizer
San Diego, CA
